Nataliya Kitic: Studio NTK

Nataliya Kitic’s experience with the fashion industry started in the middle 90’s in her home country of Bulgaria. Her father was a manager at the local apparel manufactory and she liked to visit him every day, especially when he was working in the pattern-making room. At that time, the designers did pretty much everything; from creating the fabrics and patterns to piecing together the prototypes. She found the process wonderful and interesting, and decided to make her career in fashion. In 1999, Nataliya graduated from a four-year school with a Fashion Design major. During this part of her education, she was exposed to many of the technical aspects of the design process, including manufacturing.

Nataliya moved to the United States from Bulgaria in 2004. In 2008 she decided to move to Indianapolis to further her fashion career. The fashion design program at The Art Institute of Indianapolis helped her discover her creative side. After gaining both technical and creative experience through the program, Nataliya decided to open Studio NTK.

Studio NTK’s mission is to help small and start-up businesses with consulting, designing, pattern-making, sourcing, and small-run manufacturing. Nataliya had been told that in order to hire a good pattern-maker or designer, one had to go to New York or California. She wanted to prove this statement to be false, and show the world that there are lots of talented designers in the Midwest.

Since opening in January of 2011, Studio NTK has helped three companies with design, sourcing, and manufacturing. Studio NTK’s long term goal is to raise enough funds to buy modern industrial equipment such as a computer pattern making system, a plotter, and other manufacturing equipment. Nataliya is striving to grow the fashion industry in Indianapolis, and would love to bring more customers to the Midwest.